NOT to be confused with the Golden Fleece Award.
The Order of the Golden Fleece (German: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies; Dutch: Orde van het Gulden Vlies; French: Ordre de la Toison d'Or; Spanish: Orden del Toisón de Oro) is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Isabel of Aviz.
The Order of the Golden Fleece was modeled on the English Order of the Garter, but d...
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NOT to be confused with the Golden Fleece Award.
The Order of the Golden Fleece (German: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies; Dutch: Orde van het Gulden Vlies; French: Ordre de la Toison d'Or; Spanish: Orden del Toisón de Oro) is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Isabel of Aviz.
The Order of the Golden Fleece was modeled on the English Order of the Garter, but dedicated to Saint Andrew. Philip had been elected to membership of the Garter in 1422, but had declined to avoid offending the king of France. Like the Garter it was restricted to a limited number of knights, initially 24 but increased to 30 in 1433 and 50 in 1516—plus the sovereign. It received further privileges unusual to any order of knighthood: the sovereign undertook to consult the order before going to war; all disputes between the knights were to be settled by the order; at each chapter the deeds of each knight were held in review, and...
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